Survival of the Undead
by 1Whitedragon
Summary: When the end of the world happens and flesh eating zombies have over run the world you do whatever you can to survive. It doesn't matter if you're human or part of the supernatural world you survive and protect the ones you love.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own**

The sun was blazing down upon the people that were living in the quarry. It didn't bother the woman that was washing her family's clothes. The said woman name is Alice Dixon, the youngest and only sister of Merle and Daryl Dixon. She has short dark brown hair, unique bright honey eyes but is hidden behind blue contacts and has light tan skin. Her three year old daughter Maxine, aka Max, was helping her fold the clothes as best as she could. She has dark brown hair that was in a ponytail, light tan skin and has the same eyes as her mother but she hides hers behind goggles. Standing guard next to them is her faithful and protective Husky, Demon. He is a fully black, bigger than a normal size dog and has yellow eyes; in other words he looks like a wolf. Both his size and eyes frightened everyone in camp but he is sweet when he wants to be. That is until someone threatens Alice or Max and he becomes Cujo.

When Alice was finish with the clothes she helped Max folded the rest and placed them back in the basket. She carried one basket and while Max carried the other one.

"Come on, Demon, let's head back." She said and whistled

Hearing his master calling him he walked next to her and his little master.

After a while the three made it to their camp area. She and her family's tents were far away from the others since everyone else were afraid of them. Well more of her brothers and Demon than her and her daughter. Some of them were okay but there are some like Shane, Lori, and Andrea she didn't care for as they all judged her family. Alice believed Andrea didn't like her because of her close sister-like bond with Amy. For a few weeks she's been teaching Amy on how to hunt and defend herself so she could help out with the group. Lori was just stuck up; even when she tries to be to nice. She could fake smile at Alice but the sister Dixon could see the judgment in her eyes. Even as the end of the world is happening people are still judgmental and ungrateful to people like them. Her and her family provided the meat and protection and they don't even get a thank you for it. Not to mention the prick deputy Shane is an ass to her and brothers'. Always have to have it his way and think that his shit doesn't stink.

"Hey baby sis." Merle said as he was sharping his knife.

"Merle, Daryl this basket has your clothes in it." She said, placing the basket by Merle.

"Thanks, Alice." Daryl said as was cleaning his crossbow. "Max, since your mama is gonna help Merle and the other on the scavenging tomorrow ya can go hunting with me."

"Yes." Max smiled

"Any luck out there today you guys?" Alice asked before placing hers and Max's clothes in their tent.

"We caught a few rabbits and a half a dozen squirrels." Daryl said "Gonna have to go deeper in the woods tomorrow. Hopefully we'll find a deer."

Alice nodded and grabbed the rabbits and squirrels from her brothers' side and sat next to Max. Like with hunting and tracking at the young age Alice has been teaching her daughter how to skin animals and how to cook it. She didn't want her daughter to be weak like the rest of the children in the quarry. Though she would like for her to make a friend but she was too anti-social like the rest of her family.

The next morning Daryl and Max had gotten up really early so they could get a head start on hunting. As did Alice, Merle and the rest of the people that were going scavenging. Alice knew that her daughter would be safe with Daryl so she didn't worry that much. At least when she's out there she didn't have to wear her goggles.

"Will you be okay out there, Mama?' Max asked

"Of course, honey. I have Demon for protection, remember." Alice smiled and petted the dogs head. "Remember he's been protecting our family for 100's of years. No Walker stands a chance against him. Not to mention we are both Dixon and Winchester. We are impossible to kill."

"Because nothing can kill a Dixon and a Winchester, right." Max said

"That's right. Our two family blood lines are great warriors. Nothing can hurt us." She said "Now remember to stay with Uncle Daryl the whole time. Okay."

"I will, mama." She said and then handed her a leather necklace that had a few beads and a wooden pendent in the middle. "I made this for you. The pedant is supposed to be a dragon. It's supposed to protect you from harm."

"Thank you, honey." She smiled and placed the necklace around her neck.

Then she kissed her head and watch the little girl headed off with Daryl as they entered the woods.

"She'll be fine, Alice." Merle said

"I know. Let's go Demon." Alice said

Demon barked and followed after his master.

"Oh great the demon dog is coming with us." Glenn gulped

Demon growled at him; making the Asian man jumped.

"What's wrong, China man, scared of a dog." Merle laughed

"There's nothing to be afraid, Glenn. He's harmless…as long as nothing happens to me." Alice said as strapped on her quiver of arrows and held on to her bow

"That's what I'm afraid of." Glenn said

.

.

.

Vlad couldn't believe how the end of the world had happened. He had lived for 500 hundred years and had seen a lot of things but he has never seen the dead come back to life. When it happened he was in Georgia and hasn't left since. It wasn't like he couldn't. The dead ignores him completely; mostly because his blood and heartbeat is already dead. His scent is completely different from both humans and them. Vlad really didn't know why he stayed. He just kept feeling like he was searching for something or someone.

On his travel on the road he has met a human name Rick Grime. The guy was in a coma when everything happened and is now trying to find his wife and son. Feeling sorry for the guy Vlad decided to help him out and they headed to Atlanta. Though they had to find a new ride to the city since Rick's police car ran out of gas. They stopped at a small farmhouse and found the owners dead in their own home. It was obvious that the family committed suicide. Vlad was used this kind of sight but for Rick it was hard. He started to choke up and walked away. Vlad walked out of the house after him and looked around land.

"Don't worry Rick. We'll find them." Vlad said

"How come you're not affected by that?" Rick asked

Vlad fiddle with his marine dog tags before placing them back in his shirt.

"I've seen my share of death in my time." Vlad said "After a while, you just get used to it. Come on, I think I see a way to get to the city."

He walked off the porch with Rick following him and the small town sheriff saw the two horses. One was a white and brown horse and was fenced in. The other one was a pure black horse and it looked like he must have gotten out but the truth is that he was Vlad's horse, Shadow. A demon horse that he found in Greece a few hundred years back. In the daylight he looks like a normal horse but at night and when the moonlight shines is when his true form is shown. Ever since Vlad had tamed him Shadow always appeared when he needs him. After seeing his master Shadow trots over to Vlad while Rick was dealing with the other horse.

"Hello, old friend." Vlad whispered "Good to see you again."

He placed a saddle on Shadows back while Rick finally got ahold of the other horse with the rope. They placed their stuff on the horses back before mounting on them. To Vlad it was easy but Rick on the other hand was a little nervous.

"Take it easy, I haven't done this in years." Rick said

The next thing he knew the horse just took off galloping away. Vlad laughed as ordered Shadow to follow after them.

It didn't take long for them to reach Atlanta. One side of the highway was completely packed with empty cars. Vlad knew that this couldn't be good but kept it to himself. They walked into the city in a slow pace; trying to be as quite as possible. That's when things got bad. Just like Vlad had thought the place over run by the dead. They tried to eat Rick and his horse but so far they only got the horse. Vlad was able to save Rick hid in the tank while Shadow ran off. They were trapped for a while till someone from the outside radioed them and helped them out. When they were given the all clear sign they hurried out of the tank and followed the guys' direction. They reached the alley and that's when they saw an Asian man.

"Woah! Not dead! Come on!"

The three men ran till they reached the ladder that was in the alley. The guy went first, Rick went next and Vlad climbed up last. When they made it to the top the guy that saved them shook his head at them.

"You guys the saviors?" Here to clean up the town? That was dumb." Glenn said

"I'm Rick. This here is Vlad. Thanks." Rick said and held out his hand.

"Glenn." Glenn said before shaking Rick's hand. Then he pointed to the rest of the ladder. "We're gonna have to climb all the way up there."

They continued to climb and then followed Glenn the rest of the way. Vlad would once in a while look around; making sure that this wasn't a trap. He had met a few people that had tried to take his stuff for their own survival and that's when he had to kill them. This world was now all about the survival of the strongest he wasn't going to drop his guard like Rick did just because this guy saved them. It could all be an act so he wasn't taking any chances. Glenn had led them to a back area of an apartment store and two people came to take down the dead that were there. The moment they enter the place Rick was pushed to the wall by a blonde woman; pointing a gun to his face.

"You son of a bitch!"

Vlad reacted out of instincts and grabbed the woman's wrist, pinned her arm behind her before slamming her against the wall. He grabbed the gun to examine it and he rolled his eyes when he saw that the gun still had the safety switch on.

"Next time you tried to threaten someone make sure the safety is off." He said

Then he heard a familiar click and felt a small metal piece pressed in the back of his head.

"Trust me, honey, its' not her you should be worry about."

The moment he heard her voice his body shiver in delight. The only time that happened was four years when he was in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Vlad looked behind his shoulder and saw the same woman from that day, Alice Dixon who was aiming his own gun at him. Her hair is shorter than before but she was still beautiful to him. He could tell that she remembered him as she narrowed her eyes at him and was gripping his gun tightly.

Oh yeah she remembered him.

"For a military man, you seem to forget to never turn your back on anyone. Now let her go." She glared

He did as he was told and backed away from Andrea.

"We're dead because of these people!" Andrea yelled

"She may be hysterical right now but she right. You guys do know that they are driven by sound." Alice said as she lowered the gun.

"That was actually him doing that." Vlad pointed to Rick.

Rick gave him a small glare for ratting him out but the fact is that the shooting did save his life. They led Rick to the front of the store as Morales was lecturing him about the key of survival. Left behind in the back was just Alice and Vlad. It was an awkward moment for the both of them. He tried to take a step towards her but stopped when he heard a growl and sensed a familiar hellhound behind him. Looking over his shoulder and he saw a very large demon dog ready to pounce on him.

"It's wonderful seeing you again Alice." He said

"I wish I could say the same thing." She said before shoving his gun at him.

"Still mad at me I see." He muttered

She gave him a glare that told him 'What do you think.'

"I'll take that as a yes." He said as he placed his gun back in its hostler. "Look Alice, I'm…"

"Don't. I don't want to hear it from you." She said "I should have just trusted my gut and instead of actually believing that I met a good guy for once."

He was gonna say something till they heard gun shots from the roof.

"God damn it, Merle. I can't take my eyes off him for one second." She muttered and ran up the stairs.

Demon and Vlad followed after her. When they made it to the roof she saw that her brother Merle was fighting almost everyone.

"Merle Harold James Dixon what fuck is going on here!" She yelled

"Not now baby sis it's time declare a new leader to this group." Merle said

"How fucking high are you right now?!" She yelled

Merle just ignored her and kept on ranting that he should be leader. Vlad had enough of this so with fast speed he grabbed the rifle and hit Merle's stomach with the end part and head-butted his face. Merle lost his gripped so Vlad punched his stomach and kicked him to the ground; ripping the gun out of his hands. Before Merle could get up Rick tackled him to the ground and handcuffed him to a pipe. It took a while till everyone calmed down. When Alice had cooled off she walked over to her brother and slapped him over his head. He was going to cuss her out till he saw the death glare she gave him.

"That was for get high when you know damn well that we're heading out scavenging. And if you say one more racist word, I swear Merle, I'll knock you on your ass out myself." She said "God damn it, Merle, why do I always have to be the mature one in the fucking family."

Everyone watched in shocked at how she scowled him. It was like watching a mother scowling a child.

"Sorry baby sis." Merle muttered

Alice looked around and saw everyone looking at them.

"What's everyone looking at, this is a family conservation here. Mind your own damn business." She glared at them.

Everyone looked away, not wanting to have her wrath on them. She can be very scary when she was mad. Well, everyone but Vlad did. No matter how much she hates him he does still care about her. Merle noticed his staring at his sister and didn't like it.

"Why the hell is pretty boy staring at you?" Merle asked

Right now Alice was glad that her big brother was cuffed to a pipe. The news that she was going to tell him she knew well that he was going to lose it again.

"That's Maxine's father." Alice said


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own**

Yup, it was a good thing that her brother was cuffed to the pipe because he was shouting and cussing at Vlad while trying to break free from the cuffs.

"Just wait till I get out of these cuff pretty boy! I'm gonna beat the shit out of you!" Merle yelled "You're gonna pay for what you did to my sister! Getting her pregnant and having her taking care of it by herself!"

Right now Alice wished that she was somewhere else as she was embarrassed that he said that in front of everyone. She knew that it was the high and his anger that made him say this out loud but that didn't mean he had to let everyone on the roof know. Everyone was speechless, even Vlad. When he heard the last sentence he quickly looked at Alice with wide eyes. She was pregnant with his child and he didn't know about it. If he knew that she was pregnant he wouldn't have left like that. He never wanted to hurt her.

"Everyone updated. Good, now let's chance the subject." Alice said with saw sass.

Hearing the tone in her voice everyone looked away.

"How's the signal T-dog?" Morales asked

"Like Merle's brain, weak." T-dog said

Merle flicked T-dog off while Alice and Vlad smirked a little.

"Keep trying." Morales sighed

"Why?" Andrea asked "There's nothing they can do, not a damn thing."

"Hate to agree with her again, but she's right. That jackass won't come for us even if we had more people to help us with." Alice said "We should just plan an escape instead of waiting for our deaths here."

"My baby sister is right. But these streets ain't safe in this here part of town I here." Merle mumbled as he finally calmed down. Then he looked at Andrea with a smirked. "Ain't that right sugar tits?"

Andrea ignored him.

"Hey! Honey buns!" Merle tried to get her attention.

"Merle, shut up. Don't make me smack you again." Alice said

It wasn't long till Vlad came up with the idea of trying to use the sewers. Jacqui told them that there may be drainage tunnels in the sub-basements since the building was built in the twenties so they agreed to check it out. Almost everyone went to the basement of the building. T-dog stayed behind to continue to try and get a signal and to watch Merle. When they found it everyone turned to Glenn to check it out. Alice voted to go instead of Glenn but Vlad quickly said no with some of the other men in the group. She glared at Vlad and walked away.

"You're just digging your grave even deeper you know that." Jacqui muttered to Vlad.

"I know." Vlad muttered and went after her.

He was able to catch up to her in the department floor and pulled her in faraway were they could have privacy.

"Don't touch me." She hissed as she pulled her arm out of his grip.

Her eyes glowed red for a few seconds as she growled at him. He wasn't infected by it as he knew that she was pissed off at him.

"You had no right to tell me what I can and can't do." She said

"I was just thinking about you and our daughter. If something happens to you down there…" He said

"Our daughter? What's her favorite color? Her favorite bedtime story? Her favorite animal or what was her first word?" Alice mocked "To call her your daughter you have to know these things. To be there for her."

"I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you like that. But I had my own demons to deal with and I didn't want to drag you down with me." He said "That week with us in New Orleans was real. More than with any woman I have been with. I still do love you Alice." Then he pulled the neck hole of his shirt to revile an old bite mark between his shoulder and neck. "This marks proves that we had something; as does the mark that I left you too."

Her cheeks turned red when he mentioned that. The mark that he left her wasn't on her neck it was more down her lower region between her right thigh and lower core.

"Please, Alice, don't push me away. Now I know why I haven't left Georgia. It's because of you and Maxine. Let me get to know my daughter. Let me prove myself that I won't leave and that I'm here to stay." He said

Alice crossed her arms and gave him an unsure look. For four years she has hated him for leaving her like that but she did believe that Max deserve to know her own father.

"Fine, you can meet her but this doesn't mean that I forgive you." She said

"You'll be surprise on how patient I can be." He smiled down at her.

"Stop smiling at me like that." She glared

Glass shattering made them jump and the two hurry to the front where Rick and Andrea were. At the doors walkers had broken through the exterior doors and were now banging on the interior doors. Morales, Jacqui and Glenn showed up and saw what's going on.

"What did you find down there?" Rick asked

"Not a way out." Morales said

"We need to find a way soon." Andrea said

Not wanting to be on the floor right now everyone headed back to the roof. They all lean against the ledge as Rick was looking through a pair of binoculars. He passed the binoculars to Morales when he spotted something.

"That construction site, the trucks, they always keep their keys close at hand." Rick said

"You'll never make it pass the walkers." Morales said

Rick turned to Glenn again but Vlad wasn't going to let the kid be use again.

"I'm gonna go I'm faster than any of them." Vlad whispered to Alice

"You're not going out there alone." Alice whispered back

"You're fast Alice but you are only half vampire. You still have a heartbeat they'll smell you." Vlad said

"I find that racist. Besides you need a distraction to get them away from truck." She said

Seeing that she wasn't going to back down this time he had no choice but to take her with him. They tried leaving without everyone noticing but Rick did and he and the others hurried to stop them. After Vlad explained about his plan Rick and Glenn decided to go with them. Seeing how the dead could tell the difference between the living and dead by smell Rick and Glenn covered themselves in walker guts. They were going to have Alice and Vlad do the same but with their enhance sense of smell they nearly threw-up.

"Come near me with that I'll gut you right here right now." She hissed and walked away.

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine. Now let's hurry, those glass doors aren't gonna last forever." Vlad said as he grabbed an axe.

Vlad and Alice let Rick and Glenn walked out first and just like they thought the smell worked. Vlad kept Alice close to him as his scent was able to block out her human half. Demon was able to get through without being seen and stay close to his master. The plan was working for a little while. That was until thunder was heard and rain started to pour. The rain was enough to wear off the gut scent from Glenn and Rick and the two started running towards the gate where the trucks were. Alice notched her bow and released her arrows at those that were near them. Demon pounced and mauled any walker that got near Alice. Vlad took down any walker that was near them but they ended up getting separated as the hoard was getting larger. Not wanting to lose her again Vlad made a sharp whistle that called forth Shadow. The demon horse came running out from a shadowy alley and gallops to the street at his fast pace. It didn't mind the walkers as the horse just ran them down with its unnatural strength. When it got closer to Vlad he quickly got on and motioned Shadow to where Alice was. He took down any walker that was close to him while Shadow trampled over them that was in their way. When they got close to Alice he held out his hand, grabbed her and pulled her up to place her behind him. Once she was on they took off with Demon right behind them.

While Vlad was saving Alice, Rick and Glenn were able to get over to the gate and got the keys to the truck. They got in the truck and drove off. Then before they got the group they stopped to get another car to draw the walkers from the store away. Glenn called the others on his walkie talkie and told about the plan as he drove with the alarm blaring off. When he got to the store he managed to draw the others walkers and lead them away. Once they were gone Rick drove to the back and got everyone out.

Well…not everyone.

As they were riding off out of the city and following the tuck Rick and everyone was in Alice looked back at the city as she heard something. It sounded like Merle shouting but she wasn't sure as they were far away.

When they reached to the campsite Vlad dismounted first before helping Alice down. Once she was down she hurried to the truck and looked for her brother while everyone was being reunited with their family. She didn't see Merle anywhere and started to panic a little.

"Where's Merle?" She asked "Where's my brother?"

Seeing the guilt look in their eyes her temper started to raise. Sensing her anger Vlad quickly went to Alice's side as he knew that things were about to go bad.

"Where is my brother?" Alice glared with coldness in her tone. "Don't you fucking tell me that he's still on that fucking roof?"

Rick was the only one man enough to step forward to tell her.

"Alice…I'm sorry but he is." He said

Before she could charge at him Vlad quickly grabbed ahold of her.

"Before you scream at me those things can't get at him. T-dog chained the door so nothing could get in. He's safe." Rick said nervously

He saw dark look in her eyes and knew that this wasn't going to end well for either him or T-dog. She let out a hallow laugh.

"Wait, so was that supposed to make me fucking feel better? You left my brother on a roof in the middle of fucking summer time! He could die from the heat, exposure and dehydration!" She yelled "You left him to die like a fucking animal!"

Rick looked down in shame.

"Oh I hope Karma gives yawl what you truly deserve. When Daryl comes back with my daughter we're gonna pack up and get Merle ourselves." She glared

She stormed off with Demon right beside her to where the lake was. Vlad followed after her to make sure she doesn't do anything drastic. What surprised him was that Shadow followed her down as well. She was standing by the lake trying to hold in her emotion. Demon was rubbing his head against her stomach. She smiled down at him as she petted and scratched his head. After Shadow finished drinking some water he went up to Alice and nudged his nose against her. Vlad smiled as she let out a small laugh and started petting him too.

"I'm surprise he let you pet him. He normally hates anyone he doesn't know." Vlad said

"Maybe it's humans he doesn't like. I can relate to that, sometimes." She muttered as she continued petting the horse. "If you came here to try to change my mind it won't. I know that he's a racist son of a bitch brother, but he's done a lot for me and Maxine." Tears started to form in her eyes. "He's not like me or you Vlad. He'll die out there and they don't give damn about it." She sniffed and hiccupped.

She tried to keep her emotion inside as it was unknown to see a Dixon cry. Vlad pulled her into his arms and held her tight. He told to let out as it was just the two of them.

"We'll get him tomorrow I promise. You, me, Daryl and Maxine will go find him. But right now you need to regain your strength." He whispered in her ear.

Not knowing why but Alice just nodded as she tried to calm herself down. She believed that it was his scent that was calming her down and made her listen to him. Unknown to her it was their mating scent. Whether she likes it or not he is her mate. He enjoyed her scent too though he didn't get to enjoy it very long as it was getting dark and they need to head back to camp. She completely ignored everyone as she headed to her own tent. Before Vlad could followed her Rick had introduce him to everyone at the camp.

"This is Vlad Tepes, he the one that's been watching my back while we were on the road and in the city." Rick said "Vlad this is my wife, Lori and my son Carl. This is my friend Shane Walsh."

Vlad nodded and gave them friendly smiles. Though he's happy that his friends had found his family but he could see that there was something between his wife and his friend Shane by the way they looked at each other. It didn't seem that Carl knew what was going on so that was a good thing.

"So how do you know Psycho Dixon?" Shane asked as he shook Vlad's hand.

Shane winced when Vlad tighten his grip; nearly crushing it.

"Her name is Alice." Vlad glared as he let go. "I'm Maxine's father. You disrespect her again in front of me and you'll see my dark side."

He could tell that Shane didn't like being threaten and knew that he was going to be problem if they stay. Vlad gave him fake smile before heading over to Alice's tent.

When night came Vlad stayed in Alice's tent with her as watched her as she slept. With what had happened today it had drain her out. He was lucky that she was sleep or else she would have overheard what the others were talking about as they were gathered by the fire.

"Have you given any thought to Alice's other brother Daryl?" Dale asked "Just like her he won't be happy to hear that his brother was left behind."

"I tell him." T-dog said "I dropped the key. It's on me."

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Rick said

"Guys, it's not a competition." Glenn butted in. "I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy."

"I did what I did." T-dog said "Hell if I'm gonna hide from it him. Wasn't gonna hide it from her."

"We could lie?" Amy suggested

"Or tell the truth." Andrea said "Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed. Your husband did what was necessary. Alice had no reason to be mad at him. Merle got left behind it is nobody's fault but Merle's."

Vlad glared at her comment. He could see why Alice didn't like most of the people in the group.

"That was her brother. You would have done the same if that was Amy wouldn't you. Is this what we're going to tell Daryl?" Dale said in disbelief. Andrea looked down in shame as she knew that he was right. "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? World to the wise, we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from the hunt with her daughter."

"I was scared and I ran." T-dog said "I'm not ashamed of it."

"We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?" Andrea asked

"I stopped long enough to chain the door. Staircase is too narrowed. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that…not that chain, not that padlock." T-dog informed them. "My point…her brother is alive and he's still up there, handcuffed to that roof. That there is on us."

After everyone went quiet. Vlad sighed as he lay down next to Alice. It was nice to know that some of them had a conscience. Once he laid down Alice turned to his side in her sleep. Vlad turned to his side; facing her and wrapped an arm around her waist. He pulled her closer to him and she nuzzled her nose in the crook of his neck.


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own…**

When morning came Vlad was the first to wake up when the sunlight hit the tent. He looked around as he was a little unfamiliar with everything till he looked down and saw Alice. Seeing her made him smile and helped him remember where he was. He didn't want to wake her but his movement already woke her up. She rubbed her eyes and started to stretch her limbs before sitting up.

"Morning." She muttered

"Morning." He said

He was still laying down but was running his left hand up and down her spine.

"Stop it." She said

"Why? You use to enjoy it when I did this." He smirked

"Just because I let you sleep in here last night doesn't mean that I forgave you." She sighed

He smiled as he sat up and started kissing her back and shoulders. Alice had to bit back a moan as he did this. He remembered all her soft spots and enjoyed hearing the noise she made. She may not believe him but he has missed her so much. He got so caught up with her scent that he ended up piercing his fangs into her shoulder. As he began drinking her blood Alice couldn't help but let out a moan. Vlad brought her closer to him and was took off her shirt till Demon started growling at him. The growl was able to break Alice out of the mood and jabbed Vlad stomach with her elbow. Vlad groan from the pain and let her go.

"Thank you Demon." Alice said as she put her shirt back on and then a flannel sleeveless shirt to cover the bite mark.

"Thanks Demon." Vlad glared at the hellhound.

"Come on, Demon, let's get out. You probably need to do your business." She said

She unzipped the tent and Demon hurried straight out and headed to the woods. After putting on a shirt himself Vlad followed her outside. When he came out he saw one of the campers name Carol and her daughter Sophia heading over their way with two plates of food.

"We were able to save you two some breakfast." Carol said as she handed Alice a plate while Sophia handed the other to Vlad.

Carol left but Sophia stayed behind.

"You're not really thinking of leaving us, are you Alice?" Sophia asked

During their time there Sophia has looked to Alice like a big sister and Maxine was like a little sister to her. There have been many times when Alice and Demon had stopped her father from hurting both her and her mother; so the young girl felt safe with the female Dixon.

"I'm not sure yet sweet." Alice sadly smiled down at the girl. "Go to your mother."

The little girl nodded and hurried off to her mother.

"So you can tolerate others." Vlad smirked as he took a bite of his meal.

He normally doesn't eat human food anymore but will eat if he has to and if he's around other people.

"The kids here are different. They're not as judgmental as their parents are." Alice said as she sat down and ate her food.

They sat down and ate quietly for a few minutes till Rick showed up.

"Well, if it isn't officer friendly." Alice muttered

"Hello Alice. Vlad." Rick greeted

Alice looked up at him and saw that he wanted to asked them something but wasn't sure how. She caught him looking behind where Lori was; who was helping Carol with the laundry.

"What's on your mind sheriff?" She asked

"Well…I…I was wondering if you don't mind me joining you and Vlad in heading towards Atlanta. I want to help you save Merle." Rick said

This surprised both Vlad and Alice. She glance over at Lori and saw how hard she was trying to not look their way before looking back at Rick.

"What does the old ball in chain have to say about that?" Alice asked

Vlad had to stop himself from laughing at her comment.

"She's not pleased by it but you're right. Your brother didn't deserve to be left behind." Rick said

Alice was so used to Shane's bullshit that she didn't think that there were any good people left.

"Alright, we'll leave when Daryl gets here." She said "Oh and Rick just letting you know all us Dixons have bad tempers. Be ready for a fight when you tell him what happened."

Rick nodded and headed back to the others. Then two high pitched screams were heard throughout the camp. Everyone, including Alice and Vlad ran towards were the screams were. When they found them Carl and Sophia ran towards their mothers as Demon tackled down and mauled the walker that was after them.

"That a boy Demon. Rip its head off." Alice command

Hearing his masters' words Demon pierced his teeth in the walkers' skull and quickly ripped its head off before crushing it with its paws. After hearing another one Demon ran after it and attacked it as well. When Alice and the men followed him they saw a deer that was mauled by the neck by it. Alice looked at the arrows on the deer and knew that they were from her brother. When Demon finished killing the walker he went over and sat next to his master.

"Good boy." Alice cooed and petted the hellhound

"That's the first time we've had walkers all the way up here." Dale said

"They're running out of food in the city." Jim said

Rick walked over to Alice and petted Demon's head.

"Thank you, boy. Thanks for protect my son and that little girl." Rick thanked

Another noise was heard and Shane and Rick raised their guns up. Vlad quickly placed himself in front of his mate.

"Mama. Mama."

Little Maxine came running out of the bushes and ran straight for her mother. Alice quickly picked up her daughter and hugged her. Vlad looked at his daughter and couldn't help but smile at her. She was a perfect combination of him and Alice.

"I missed you, mama." Max smiled

"I missed you too, honey." Alice smiled "Where's Uncle Daryl?"

On que Daryl came out of the bushes with his crossbow and a few squirrels hanged over his shoulder.

"Son of a bitch! That was my deer!" He glared

He circled around the deer and started kicking the now dead walker as he let out a bunch of curses during each kick.

"Daryl, enough. Kids are around." Alice said

He looked up at his sister and saw that she was trying to cover Maxine's ears. Knowing how Alice is he calmed down and hunched over the deer.

"Do ya think we can cut that part and it'll still be good?" He asked

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Vlad said

Daryl looked at him with a glare as he didn't know who Vlad was. He didn't like how close Vlad was towards his sister and niece.

"This here is Vlad. He just joined us yesterday." Shane said

Daryl scoffed and got up.

"Well I got us about a dozen squirrels so I guess that'll have to do." He said and headed to their camp side. "Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrels! Let's skin'em so baby sister can stew'em up."

Rick and Shane looked at Alice hoping that she would tell him but she too occupied with her daughter.

"Daryl, hold up, we need to tell you something." Shane called out to him.

Daryl was half way on their side of the camp area when he stopped.

"About what?" Daryl asked

"About Merle. There, uhh, there was a problem in Atlanta." Shane said

Daryl looked at everyone as all eyes were on him. Then he looked over at Alice and saw sadness in her eyes.

"He dead?" He asked

"We're not sure." Shane said

"Not sure? He either is or he ain't!" Daryl glared

That's when Rick stepped in.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." He said

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl glared

"Rick Grime." Rick introduce himself

"Rick Grimes? Something' ya want to tell me?!" Daryl snapped

"Your brother was a danger to us all." Rick explained "So I handcuffed him on a roof and hooked him to a piece of metal…he's still there."

"Hold on…let me process this." Daryl said as he paced around. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof! And you left him there!"

"Yeah." Rick said

Unable to handle his anger anymore he threw the rope of squirrels at Rick to distract him and tried to attack him. The sheriff was able to dodge the ropes of squirrels and Shane tackled Daryl to the ground. Alice placed Max down next to Demon and was about to help her brother but Vlad stopped her.

"Wait." He whispered in her ear.

Daryl recovered from the tackle and unsheathed his hunting knife as he stood back up.

"Watch the knife!" T-dog warned the cops

Daryl thrashed his knife at Rick as he was trying to kill him. Rick dodged him and punched Daryl in the stomach. Then Shane came behind him and placed him in choke hold. Having enough of this Vlad did the same to Shane and once the cop let go of the hunter the vampire prince tossed him aside. Alice helped her brother up but stopped him from attacking anyone else.

"Daryl enough." She said

"You let this happen?" Daryl growled

"Do you actually think that I would've let that happen?!" She snapped "If I was on that roof still I wouldn't have left him."

Now she was pissed off. She knew that it was his temper talking but she wasn't going to let him talk to her like that. After seeing the dark look in her eyes the hunter knew to stop talking. After seeing the hunter cool down Rick walked over to the siblings.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think you can manage that?" Rick asked

Daryl looked down at his sister as she told him to calm down.

"Yeah." Daryl huffed

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work or play well with others." Rick said

"Rick, you only met the guy for only five minutes and he high off his mind. We have no idea what he was like." Vlad commented

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key and I dropped it." T-dog said

"You couldn't pick it up?!" Daryl snapped

"I dropped it down a drain." T-dog hesitated

Daryl glared at everyone as they have always looked down at him and his family. No matter how much they provide for them they will always judge them because of their upbringing.

"If that's supposed to make us feel better, it don't." Daryl stated

"Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. It had a pad lock." T-dog informed him.

"That's got to count for something." Rick said

"Hell with all y'all!" Daryl snapped and looked at his sister. "Alice, pack your and Maxine's stuff. We're gonna get Merles ass out of that city and then we're gonna get the hell out of here."

After hearing that Vlad wasn't going to let that happen. He knew Alice could handle herself out there but Maxine is only three years old and couldn't keep up with adults with her tiny legs.

"Actually I'm going. I believe for Maxine's safety Alice should stay here." Vlad said

Alice would have been mad at him but she had to agree with him. Merle maybe her brother but she had to protect her daughter. Yes, she trust Amy but she wasn't that well trained. With the other campers in the group she wouldn't trust with her daughters' safety at all; especially if Shane was going to stay behind like a bitch.

Daryl thought the same thing and looked over at his sister to see if she was okay with this. She looked at him and she nodded yes.

"He's also gonna show you too." Lori told the hunter as she was talking about her husband. "Isn't that right?"

From the sound of her tone she wasn't happy about the decision at all. Alice rolled her eyes at the woman.

"I'm going back." Rick told everyone.

Lori let out a huff and stormed into the RV, Rick went after her. Daryl headed off to his and Merle's tent as he needed to get more bolts for Atlanta. Once the drama was over Max hurry over to her mother.

"Mama, are we really leaving?" She asked

Alice picked her up and hugged her.

"I don't know yet honey." Alice said

Max looked over at Vlad saw that he was watching them. With her sense of smell she knew that he was like them.

"Mama, he smells just like us." Max whispered in her mom's ear.

Alice gave her a small smile and thought now was the time to tell her.

"Max, there's someone I will like for you to meet." She said and walked over to Vlad.

Vlad was getting nervous now. He wasn't sure how Maxine was going to react to knowing that he's her father.

"Max, this is your father, Vlad." Alice said

The little girl looked at him shyly.

"Hi Maxine." Vlad smiled

"Hi daddy." Max said shyly and waved at him. Then she looked at her mother. "How did you find him?"

"He found us when we were stuck in the city." Alice said

"So the necklace work? It brought daddy back to protect you?" Max asked with a brow raised.

Vlad looked at Alice with a smirked and walked closer to them.

"That's right darling, and I will never leave you two again. I'm gonna stay and protect you and your mother." Vlad said

The little girl reached over; wanting to hug him and Alice handed him her so she could. Vlad held his daughter tight as this was the first time he held her in his arms. He had to admit that he was mad himself for not being able to witness and experience the birth of their daughter with Alice. To hold her when she was first born, to hear her first words, to see her take her first steps and to watch her grow. It was his fault for choosing to take down and destroy his master instead of staying with Alice. Though he knew that if he didn't the bastard would have try and use her and Max as leverage against him. Vlad knew that he had a lot of making up to do to both his daughter and mate.

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.

.

The three had gone back to Alice's and Max's tent. Inside Alice had showed Vlad Maxine's baby book and some photo albums that she manage to pack. Maxine's explained everything that had happened during every picture as best as she could.

"And this one from is my second Christmas. That's where we visit Uncle Bobby, Uncle Dean and Uncle Sam." Max explained as she pointed at the picture. "Uncle Bobby dressed up like Santa Claus and gave me a lot of toys." Then held up her two favorite stuff toys. "Even Charizard and Pikachu."

Vlad smiled down at her as he listened as she explained what Pokémon's were and what kind of powers they have.

"Daddy, will you be okay out there in the city." Max asked

"Trust me darling, I'll be fine. Nothing can hurt me. I'm too fast for those things to catch me." Vlad smiled and kissed her head.

While this was happening Alice was sitting quietly next to them as this was going and she smiled. She wanted to still be mad at Vlad for leaving them but for some reason she couldn't.

"Promise that you'll come back to us." Alice whispered

Vlad looked at her with a surprise look and smiled.

"You don't have to worry about me. I always keep my promises." Vlad said "I will always come back to you two, no matter what."

He took her hand into his and lifted hers' to his lips to kiss them.

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After a while Alice and her family were sitting near the fire pit. Daryl was sitting beside her as he was checking over his crossbow and cleaning his blots. Vlad who was sitting on her other side was sharping his blades. He didn't need them as he could just tear the walkers down with his bare hands but he had to keep them to not look suspicious around the group. Rick came out of his tent as he was dressed in his sheriff uniform. Then Shane came around and tried to reason with Rick so he could get his way. Like Alice, everyone at the quarry had an annoyed looked at Shane. Seems like everyone else was getting tired of him and was now seeing that he was a poor choice in being the leader. Before Rick and Vlad came it was clear to everyone that he only cared about Lori's and Carl's safety and health instead of the whole group.

"Why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane loudly asked

This caused Daryl to stand up from his spot and glared at Shane.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl glared

"No, I did. Douche bag is what I meant." Shane said with no care.

Alice would have called him a jack-ass cocksucker but Maxine was sitting on her lap; playing with her toys.

"Merle Dixon. A guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst." Shane said

"What he would or wouldn't do shouldn't matter. Believe it or not Merle did care about the group. From what Alice told me he's the one set up the alarm system and was one of the three that went into the woods to provide meat for everyone. What have you done beside run your mouth and boss everyone around Shane?" Vlad said and looked up at Shane with a glare. "A good leader cares for his people no matter if they come from a bad background and they will do everything that they could to protect his people. If you're willing to let one of your men die out there just because you don't like them then you have business calling the shots or giving orders now do you."

Alice couldn't help but smile at Vlad telling Shane off. She was glad someone else besides her seeing how bad of a leader Shane was and wasn't afraid to tell him. Shane turned red in anger and embarrassment at what Vlad told him.

"Vlad is right. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That isn't anyway to die, let alone a human being." Rick agreed

"So Daryl, Vlad and you? So, that's your big plan?" Lori said in disbelief.

Rick looked over at Glenn and the poor Asian guy knew what he was thinking.

"Ah, come on." Glenn sighed loudly.

"We would really appreciate it, Glenn. You know that city better than us." Vlad said after placing his last blade in its hoister. "You know its ins and outs."

"It's not fair for us to ask, I know that. But I'll feel a lot better with you along with us." Rick said

"That's just great. Now you are going to risk four men." Shane said annoyingly

"Five."

Everyone turn toward T-dog when he announced his contribution to the trip. This was just pissing Shane more as no one was listening to him.

"My day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" Daryl scoffed

Alice slapped his arm making him look at her with a brow raised. She gave him a look that told him to 'be nice' and 'don't start shit'.

"You see anyone else stepping up to save your brother's white cracker ass." T-dog retorted

"Why you?" Daryl asked

"You wouldn't begin to understand. You don't speak my language." T-dog replied

"That's five." Dale said

"It's not just five. You are putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick." Shane said "Come on, you all saw those walkers. They were here, they were in camp. They are moving out of the cities and coming back. We need everyone we got. We need them here, we need them to protect the camp."

"If you had listened to me three months ago everyone would have been able to handle themselves. But no, instead you let everyone play camp and relay on you." Alice glared

Shane glared at her but she didn't back down. If something happens to them she's going to make it know that it was truly his fault and not Ricks.

"It seems to me that what you really need here the most are more guns." Rick stated

That seemed to get Shane's attention. Rick explained how many guns and ammo he had in the bag that he had dropped; along with a few walkie talkies. Shane seemed to be thinking it over but Lori didn't want him to go.

"The hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon!? He isn't worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." Lori said

"Stop being mean to my uncle you hag!" Max glared

Lori eyes widen in shock at what the little girl called her while Alice was trying hard not to laugh.

"Alice are you…" Lori said

"Oh I wouldn't talk cause I was about to call you something else but there are kids here." Alice glared "Rick came back and with the others help he will come back again. Unless you want to defend yourself with a stick this group is gonna need those guns." Then she covered Maxine's ear. "Now everyone stop bitching about this and get going. Daylight is our only advantage right now you'll be vulnerable when it gets dark."


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own…**

After everyone was packed they headed out to the city. No one talked much in the van till they actually reached the border near the city.

"He'd better be okay." Daryl warned T-dog. "It's my only word on the matter."

"I told you. The geeks can't get at him." T-dog reminded the hunter. "The only ones who are going to get through that door is us."

When they reached their destination Glenn put it in park and turned it off.

"We walk from here." He said

With Glenn's navigations they were able to get through the city carefully. There was a debate on where to go first but Glenn told them that Merle was the closest so that's where they went first. They made it to the department store and the place was no longer overrun. Now there was only one walker left in the entire store.

"Damn, you are one ugly skank." Daryl whispered before shooting a bolt in its skull.

When it went down he pulled the bolt out and placed it back in the crossbow. The group rushed up the stairs and towards where the roof door is. Like T-dog believed the chain with the pad lock was still intact. T-dog used the bolt cutters that they borrow from Dale and broke the chain.

"Merle!" Daryl called out once the door was opened. "Merle!"

No one answered.

The group searched the roof to find Merle but stopped when they only found was Merle's hand and the rest of Merle was nowhere in sight.

"No!" Daryl cried "No! No!"

After that Daryl let his emotions get the better of him and aimed his crossbow at T-dog. Then Rick aimed his gun at Daryl. Vlad just rolled his eyes at this.

'This isn't the time for this crap.' He thought

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every Walker in the city hears it." Rick said

"Alright that's enough, all of you. Merle's not here so that means that he must have went somewhere else and he'll need help." Vlad stepped in between them.

Daryl was able to calm down and lowered his crossbow. He looked over at the discarded hand and then back at T-dog.

"You got a do-rag or something?" He asked

T-dog was confused for a while but oblige as he pulled out a bandana from his pocket. Daryl took it and wrapped the discarded hand with it. Then he placed the wrapped up discarded hand into Glenn's bag.

"There's not a lot of blood. There would have been a lot when Merle cut his hand off." Vlad said as he looked at the ground.

"He must have used a tourniquet." Daryl figured "Maybe his belt."

"He was definitely delirious. If he was in his right mind he would have just cut off his thumb or dislocate it to get the handcuffs off." Vlad said

Daryl looked at the pool of blood and followed the trail of blood that led to a different building. After getting Dale's tool box they all followed him inside the building and quietly called out Merle's name. There were a few walkers inside the room but they were able to take them down. When they continued on they noticed a couple of now dead walkers that have been killed recently.

"He had enough energy to take out these sons of bitches. One handed." Daryl commented "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer and he'd crap nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss." Rick said "No matter how tough he is."

"You'd be amazed what people will do when adrenalin kicks in and will do anything to stay alive." Vlad commented

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When Vlad and the others had left Alice had decided to set up some traps in the wooden area of the camp. With big help from Demon he made a few large holes for walkers to trip in and Alice was able to make stakes from broken branches that she and Max's found. She was almost done with her last trap when she sensed Lori nearby.

"I wouldn't take another step unless you want to be impaled." Alice warned

Lori noticed the wire in front of her and looked up to see a pike aimed from above and noticed a few others in the tree.

"I already gave out a warning for no one to pass the trees that are marked X." Alice said as she stood up and looked at Lori. "What are you doing here?"

"I think we got off on a bad start." Lori said

"You mean how you and deputy shit face wanting to leave my brother to die. I'm gonna need more than an apology from you two. After all that my family has done to feed and protect this group you all looked down at us. Not once have we ever received thank you or appreciation." Alice glared "No. You all looked down at us and think we're expendable."

Lori looked down in shame as she was right about everything.

"Tell me if that was Rick or Carl out there on that roof, would you let them die or save them?" Alice asked

"Of course that my husband and son." Lori said

"And that's my brother. Just because you don't like him doesn't mean that you can choose his fate. You don't know anything about him. You're just selfish Lori. If you can't get your way you just throw a fit like a child and will blame others for it. Just like your boyfriend back there." Alice said

Lori's eyes widen when she said that last sentence. Alice just rolled her eyes; pretty much everyone but the children know about them.

"It's not that big of secret by the way you two have acting and looking at each other. A little advise; you should tell Rick soon before more drama start and something tells me that Shane isn't going to let you go that easily." Alice stated

She took Max's hand and walked away from a still shock Lori. As they walked back to the camp they heard a commotion down at the lake. At the bottom Ed slapped his wife and was about to hit the other ladies till Demon tackled him down. He bit his arm; almost tearing it off before letting go and pinning Ed down by his neck with his mouth. Ed tried to get him off but everything he moved Demon bites down harder.

"Whoa, Demon…it's okay now." Amy said

"What just happened here?" Alice said as she and Max came running down the hill.

"Ed slapped Carol and before he could do any more damage Demon came and tackled him." Jacqui informed her

"Alice can you please tell him to let him go." Carol cried

Alice walked over to Ed and glared down at him.

"I warned you what will happen if you ever hit your wife again or ever look at your daughter in that sick way again. What Demon is doing is just a warning next time there won't be." She said with a dark tone in her voice. "Demon, let go."

The hellhound did as his master told him and let got. He left very good bite marks around his neck. Sadly Carol cried over him and helped him up. Alice couldn't help but shook her head at this. Ed didn't deserve the woman's kindness but it looked like Ed already had control over her.

"Let's go, Max." Alice said as she picked her up and headed back to the camp.

After the whole incident everyone went about their own business. Alice was able to convince Carol and Sophia to movie into another tent that she had for them while leaving Ed in his tent as a prison. She wasn't going to let that jackass hurt them anymore.

Andrea and Amy had taken a row boat to the lake and used Dale's fishing gear to catch some fish. When they came back they had whole bunch of fish to feed everyone. Everything was good until Dale mention what Jim was doing.

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Vlad and the others continued on looking for Merle as they follow the still trail of blood. When they reached to a kitchen with stove burner lit and Vlad nearly gaged at the smell of burnt flesh.

"Well now we know how Merle survived. He cauterized the stump." Vlad said when he saw the burnt plate.

"I told you he was tough. No one can kill Merle but Merle." Daryl said with relief.

"Don't take that on faith. He lost a lot of blood." Rick said

"Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap." Daryl said and walked other to a busted window.

"He left the building?" Glenn loudly whispered "Why would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl replied "He's out there alone. As far as he knows, doing what he's got to do. Surviving."

"You call that surviving?" T-dog asked in surprise "Just wandering out in the streets; maybe passing out. What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks." Daryl glared at T-dog and Glenn and then looked at Rick and Vlad. "You two couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard."

"What about 1,000 dead bastards?" Rick said "Different story."

"Why don't you take a tally?" Daryl said "Do what you want? I'm gonna go get him."

"Daryl, wait." Both Rick and Vlad said; pushing away from the window.

"Get your hands off of me!" Daryl glared "You two can't stop me."

"I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I fought through hell trying to find mine. I know exactly how you feel." Rick told Daryl. "He can't get that far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head."

It took a few minutes for Daryl to consider and nodded.

"I can do that." Daryl said

"Only if we get those guns first." T-dog sighed "I ain't strolling in the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions."

When they made the plan for getting the bags Vlad wanted to bang his head against something. He knew that he should have just got the guns himself instead of Glenn's plan. If he had Glenn wouldn't have been taken hostage by another group. They managed to capture one of their own and tried to get information out of the kid. He told him where his group was held at and Rick tried to negotiate. The leader Guillermo was willing to trade but only Glenn for both the boy Miguel and all the guns in the bag.

With his eyes Vlad could see every heartbeat in the building. He could tell were a lot of very old people and the rest were young. Vlad asked the boy about it and he hesitated; didn't look him in the eye. So after deciding to fight for the guns they went back to the hideout and was getting to take down everyone. That was until an old lady came in the line of fire.

"Felipe!" The old Hispanic woman called with a thick accent. "Felipe!"

"Abuela, go back with the others, now." The man Felipe said nervously.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire." Daryl glared

"Abuela, listen to your m'hijo, okay?" Guillermo spoke "This isn't the place for you right now."

The old lady still didn't listen and talked to her grandson.

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing. He needs his asthma stuff. Carlito didn't fine it. He needs his medicine." She said

Guillermo cursed under his breath before telling Felipe to take care of it and to take his grandma with him too. Felipe tried to get her away from the soon to be fight but she notice Rick in his police uniform. She thought that her grandson may be in trouble with the law again.

"Who are those men?" She asked

Felipe talked to her in Spanish; trying to take her away from the fight but she walked over towards Rick.

"Don't you take him." She said to Rick

Vlad had to hold back a laugh as Rick was being scowled by old woman.

"Ma'am?" Rick

"Felipe's a good boy. He have his troubles but he pulled himself together. We need him here." She said

Everyone looked at each other in confusement.

"Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson." Rick said

"Then what do you want him for?" She asked

"We're looking for our friend ma'am. His name is Glenn." Vlad stepped in and looked at Felipe and Guillermo with amused look. "Your grandson and his friends were about to help us."

"The Asian boy?" She asked "He's with Mr. Gilbert. Come, come, I show you."

The kind old lady took Rick's hand and began to drag him through the group that was about to kill them. All Guillermo's men looked at him; asking him what happens now.

"Let them pass." He said

With that said they let the other men follow the old lady and Rick. The elderly woman walked them into a building that was once a nursing home. All around they saw young and tough people taking care of the elderly. As they walked they reached a group of more elderly people surrounding another elder man that was in a chair who was having trouble breathing. With the group was Glenn himself.

"What the hell is this?" Rick asked Glenn

"Asthma attack." Glenn stated "He couldn't catch his breath all the sudden."

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man." T-dog glared at him

Right on que small barking came from the other side of the room and they saw three Chihuahua dogs.

This seemed to irritate both Vlad and Rick went to talk to Guillermo. Telling him that they were ready to kill everyone in the place to get Glenn and keep the guns. Guillermo understood and was glad that it didn't happen. Then told him their story on how the outbreak happened the staff just left the elderly to die but Guillermo, Felipe and a few others stay to help and protect them. Admired by his story they decided to split the guns and go their separate ways.

"Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat." Glenn teased Rick

"Don't tell anybody." Rick joked

They headed back to where they left the truck.

"Can't believe you two gave away half of our guns and ammo." Daryl huffed

"Come on that was nearly half." Vlad said

"For what?" Daryl asked "Bunch of old frats who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow. Seriously, how long do ya think they got?"

"How long do any of us have?" Vlad asked

Before anyone could answer they all stopped when they noticed that the Van was gone.

"Oh my God." Glenn panic

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl asked

"We left it right there. Who would that it?" Glenn asked more panicky

"Merle." Rick stated

This worried everyone.

"If Alice doesn't stop him he's gonna be taking some vengeance back to the camp." Daryl stated

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Back at the camp everyone was getting ready in making dinner. Morales created a fire pit covered by rocks so that the flames would be hidden. Jim had finally calmed down after his little episode and Shane untied him. After making sure Ed was okay Carol and Sophia were going to join the others till Ed grab ahold of Sophia's arm. He quickly let go when he heard a familiar growl. Out of nowhere Demon was by the entrance of the tent ready to attack him again. The mother and daughter smiled at the hellhound's protectiveness and walked out of the tent. Ed started to shake as Demon's eyes glowed red for a few seconds before leaving.

The meal was done by sun set and everyone was enjoying it. That was until Alice heard the traps go off and Demon started to growl. She quickly got up and grabbed her weapons.

"What's wrong?" Shane said as he got up and grabbed his shotgun.

"Walkers." Alice said

That's when Ed screams were heard as a few got him from his tent and a few more came out of the woods. Everybody started to run away while some of the men and Alice tried to kill them off. Without anyone seeing him Demon used his speed to take down any walkers that came near the children. Alice kept Max close to her as she killed some walkers with her bow and arrow. She was able to kill one that was getting close to Lori and Carl.

She may not like the woman but didn't want her blood on her hands. One walker almost got close to her and out of nowhere Vlad appeared and killed it.

"Daddy!" Max cried as she ran into his arms.

He quickly picked her up hugged her. More gun shots were heard; let him know that Rick, T-dog, Daryl and Glenn had finally caught up. Rick was running around; screaming for Lori and Carl as he didn't see them. Daryl did the same as he was looking for his sister and niece; he couldn't lose them too. When he found them he saw that Vlad was protecting them from two more walkers that came at them.

After a few minutes have passed it was nothing but silence in the campground. All the walkers were truly dead and those that survived looked around for others that were alive or close to one. Vlad had went to check the traps Alice had made with Shane, Daryl and Rick and saw that they would have had a lot more if she hadn't set them up. They stabbed the walkers in the head and dragged them to camp so they could burn them. After what has happened tonight no one was able to sleep at all. Not with all of the dead bodies surrounding them.

When morning came all the adults began to gather the dead campers and the other walkers. Alice wanted to help them out but Maxine wouldn't let her go. She was still shook up from last night; everyone was.

"How is she?" Vlad asked as stepped in their tent.

"She finally went to sleep." Alice whispered as she placed Max's down on her cot and placed a thin blanket over her as it was hot still. "So in the city…Merle wasn't there?"

"He cut off his hand but he cauterized the stump so there's still a change that he's alive." Vlad said softly

Alice nodded but was still feeling guilty. Vlad saw this and placed a finger under her chin; turning her towards him.

"What happened to him wasn't your fault. His fight and flight instinct kicked when he saw that he was in danger. We'll find him." Vlad whispered "You even did your best out here with the traps."

"Doesn't seem like it though." She sighed

"More people would have gotten killed if you haven't set them up." He said

"More might have lived if Shane had let me and Merle trained them a long time ago." Alice muttered

"I have no doubt about that." He smiled and brought up her hand and kissed it. "You should get some rest too, my love."

"I want to help you guys." She said

"We can handle it. Besides she needs to see you when she wakes up." Vlad said

Alice looked down their little girl and he was right.

"At least get a little rest, love. I'll come back to check up on you two when we're finished." He said and kissed her head

When he left Alice did feel a little tired so she decided to take a little nap next to her daughter.

Vlad got out of the tent and started helping everyone either dragging the walkers that invaded the camp to the fire pit or put those that are their own in the truck so they could bury them. Everything was going well until Jacqui found out that Jim was bitten by a walker. Everyone was scared of when Jim will turn and Daryl just wanted to end him there and now but luckily Rick and Vlad put a stopped to it. For his protection they placed him in the R.V while they discussed what they should do with him. It was a long debate but they were able to agree to Rick's plan in heading to the CDC. After burning the invaded dead and burying the fallen everyone started packing up and getting ready to go through Rick's plan.

"Can Shadow come with us, daddy?" Max asked as she fed the demon horse some grass.

She and the other kids were either petting or feeding him. Surprisingly the demon horse was enjoying the attention.

"Not to worry, little princess, Shadow will always be around when we need him." Vlad said as he and Alice where packing up the tent. "Beside something tells me that he'll follow us no matter where we go."

The demon horse looked over at him and snorted before continued eating.

"All right you two let's get going." Alice said and looked over to the other kids. "Kids go with your parents."

With that said the kids headed back to their parents while Alice, Vlad and Maxine placed their stuff in Daryl's truck. As everyone was ready the Morales family had informed everyone that they weren't going and are planning in heading somewhere else. Rick gave them a gun and a few ammos for safety. When everyone was ready everybody followed Dales R.V. Daryl rode Merle's motorcycle while Vlad drove his truck with Alice, Maxine and Demon was riding in the back.

They had to stop for a while when the R.V hose blew again and they had to find a new one. When they did Jim was getting worst and he decided to stay behind. Wanting to honor his last wish they placed him by a tree, said their goodbyes and left.

It wasn't until late at night when they arrived at the CDC building. Though when they arrived it looked like a dead end as they saw a lot of dead soldiers on the road. It was clear that it was overrun. The group got out of their vehicles and headed towards the entrance but everything was shut and locked.

"You lead us to graveyard." Daryl snapped

Shane tried to get Rick back to the cars and head to Fort Beginning. Rick wasn't listening as he swears that one of the cameras moved. No one believed him that it came to the point that Shane and Vlad had to drag him away as he rants to the camera. Before they could get to the vehicles the doors to the entrance opened.


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own…**

After his failure to find the cure and with the zombie disease being destroyed, Jenner was at his end. He knew that he had little time left either way and was ready for his death, but he knew one person that might not be ready.

Speaking of them, Jenner looked at his watch and saw that it was feeding time. After sobering up he went to his office room where he kept his freezer. In the past he would normally have frozen dinners, beers or sodas in there but when the world ended it had body parts. Now it just had an arm and kidney left. With a sigh he placed the two meats on a tray and headed to the room. He stood there for a moment with hesitation as always. When he looked at the screen that showed the other room he knew he would be safe. It just always kills him to see her like this. With one last sigh he finally opened the metal door.

"I got your dinner. I'm afraid that this might be our last meal together. I'll try to find something tomorrow if we're lucky." He said

He slowly walked in the room and placed the tray on the floor before pushing it over the yellow tape. Just when it was over the tape a large chain hand grabbed it with fast speed. This made Jenner quickly back away to the wall where the door was and left, shutting the door behind him and locking it.

"Don't worry, it will all be over soon. I promise." He whispered

After that he went to do his daily report. Though at this point it seemed pointless as he wasn't sure if anyone was listening anymore.

Just when he was about to drink himself to death with his wine he saw someone on one of his cameras from outside. He couldn't believe that there were still live people out there. He knew that they were either looking for safety or answers, which he can do neither. After a few minutes of thinking it over he decided to let them in.

Everyone's eyes widen at the bright light when the doors open. When the lights dimmed down everyone hurried inside the building. It was empty so Vlad and Rick called out for anyone that could be inside. Rick, Shane, Daryl, Alice Vlad and Glenn took out their weapons when they heard someone cocked a gun. In a hallway Jenner stood there with a military gun aiming it at them.

"Anybody infected?" Jenner asked

"One from our group was...He didn't make it." Rick answered

Jenner stepped a little closer.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" Jenner asked

"A chance." Vlad said

"That's asking for an awful lot these days." Jenner said

"We know." Vlad said

Jenner lowered his gun as he looked at every member of the group.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." The man said

The group looked at each other and nodded.

"We can do that." Rick agreed

Jenner nodded before saying, "Grab what you want. Because once this door closes, it stays closed."

With that Shane, Rick, Vlad Glenn, Daryl and T-Dog ran to their vehicles and grabbed everyone's belongings. Once they were done Jenner told someone name VI to seal the main entrance and to cut off the power on the top floor. He told them that he was Dr. Edwin Jenner and he led the group to the elevator to take them to the lower level. When he saw that everyone couldn't fit in he took a few down first before bringing the rest. The next group was Vlad, Alice, Maxine, Demon, Daryl, Dale, Andrea and Amy. Let's just say the vampires and the hellhound have been tense lately. When they first stepped in the place they all could sense another supernatural was around. It wasn't the doctor, he was completely human, but the smell of it was around him. When it was their turn Daryl noticed how tensed his sister and Demon and knew to keep an eye out for anything.

"Doctors always going around packing heat like that?" He asked Jenner.

"There were plenty lying around. I familiarized myself with them. But you all look harmless enough." He said

"You shouldn't assume such things." Alice said

"Don't worry, I know." Jenner said

Once the group had gathered together Jenner took the group down a hallway towards his lab.

"Are we underground?" Carol asked

"You claustrophobic?" Jenner asked

"A little." She said

"Try not to think about it." He said

When they reached his lab, just like they promised everyone submitted to a blood test. Alice looked at Vlad in worry about how the doctor would react to their blood.

"Don't worry, love. I'll take care of it." He whispered in her ear.

Next in line was Max and she grip onto her mommy tightly. Like every child her age she had a fear of needles. Being an ex-nurse, Alice took the syringe and did it herself. With Vlad's help they did their best to calm their daughter down and took the blood sample. Boy, did the little girl cry her eyes out after that. Vlad took his little princess in his arms and tried to calm her down again.

Next up was Andrea and when she was done Jenner tried to take a sample from Demon but the hellhound let out a warning growl that backed the doctor away. Once again Alice did the blood sample since the hellhound only listened to her.

When they finished the group mentioned to the doctor that they haven't eaten for a while. Jenner led them to the kitchen that was still stocked with food. After the group had cooked up a decent meal they were able to relax and enjoy themselves for once. Someone was able to find some wine and Dale started pouring it for the adults. When Carl saw this he wanted some too but Lori said no.

"You know in Italy, the children have a little bit of wine at dinner. And in France." Dale said

"Well when Carl's in Italy or France, he can have wine then." Lori snickered before drinking her own glass.

"Oh come on." Rick encouraged her. "What's it gonna hurt?"

After looking at her son and husband she gave in. Dale poured a little wine in a cup before giving it to Carl. The boy took a sip with excitement before making a sour face after one gulp. Everyone laughed at his reaction.

"That's my boy." Lori patted his head before taking the cup away.

"You kids better stick with soda till you're ready for the adult juice." Alice said

It wasn't long till a drunk Daryl came by laughing and leaning against the table.

"Not you Glenn." He said

"What?" Glenn said

Daryl began pouring wine in Glenn's glass.

"I want to see how red your face can get." Daryl teased before looking at Vlad. "You too man. Let's see how much you can handle."

"Out of everyone in this group I can outlast them in a drinking contest." Vlad smirked as he sip his wine.

Alice almost smirked at this as it was true. It takes a lot of alcohol to get a vampire drunk.

In all the excitement Rick glanced over at Jenner and stood up from his seat.

"It seems we need to thank our host properly." Rick said

"He's more than just our host." T-Dog drunkenly smiled

"Here, here." Dale smiled in agreement.

"Boo-yah!" Daryl cheered

Everyone agreed except for Shane.

"So, when are you going to tell us what happened here, Doc?" He asked in a serious tone. "You know, all the other doctors who are trying to figure out what happened. Where are they?"

He clearly wanted to prove to Rick that he was wrong for coming here.

"I'm this close to bashing his face on this table." Alice whispered to Vlad with a growl.

"Easy darling." Vlad whispered as he placed a hand on her leg to calm her down.

"We're celebrating Shane." Rick scolded "There's no need to do this now."

"This is why we're here right?" Shane mocked "This was your move. Here to find out all the answers. Well, we found him." He pointed to Jenner. "We found one man. Why?"

Jenner sighed before looking at everyone's questioning glances.

"Well, when things got bad a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military quadrant got over run, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane asked

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They uhh, opted out. There was a rash of suicides...it was a bad time." Jenner replied

"But you didn't leave, why?" Amy asked

"I just kept working." Jenner answered " Hoping to do some good."

There was nothing but silence in the room for a few moments. That was till Glenn broke the silence in his drunken state.

"Dude, you're such a buzz kill." He said

After dinner Jenner decided to show the group where everyone was going to sleep for the night.

"Most of the facilities are locked down including housing, so you're going to have to make due here." Jenner explained. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like." He turned around and looked at the three kids. "There's a rec room down the hall that the kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in any electronics okay? Or anything that causes power." The kids nodded. "Same applies." He said to the adults, who nodded in agreement. "If you shower, go easy on the hot water." He then walked away.

Glenn turned around and smiled. "How water?"

"That's what the man said." T-Dog laughed

Everyone chose a room before heading off to the showers. Vlad was able to find a room that had a connected bathroom for him, Alice and Maxine.

"Come on, Max, shower time." Alice said as she grabbed some fresh clean clothes from Maxine's bag.

They let Maxine take a shower first. Alice helped wash and scrub her daughter's hair and body.

"Feel better?" Alice asked "No longer dirty and muddy."

"But I like being dirty and muddy." Maxine said

"And I'm hoping that's a phase that you'll grow out of when you're older." Alice joked as she poked Maxine's nose.

The little girl giggled.

After Maxine was all cleaned up Alice dried her up with a towel and placed some pajamas on her before brushing her hair. When they came out a clean Amy knocked on the door and poked her head in.

"Hey the kids were wondering if Max would like to come with them to the Rec Room." She said

Alice looked down at her daughter and Maxine nodded her head in agreement. This made Alice smile as Maxine was slowly coming out of her shell.

"Alright, but please keep an eye on her." Alice said

"No problem." Amy smiled

She took Maxine's hand and led her to the Rec Room with Demon following them. When they were gone Alice went through her own bag to find some clean clothes as she felt eyes on her. Looking up she saw Vlad staring at her as he stood by the bathroom door.

"What?" She asked

"Just waiting for you so we can take a shower together." He smirked

"We are not taking a shower together." She glared

We used to do it in New Orleans. Plus, it would save the hot water if we did." He smirked

"I think right now what you need is a cold shower." She said drily.

"Doesn't work love. Besides…" He said as he walked over towards her and took a sniff of her scent. "...we need to get rid of this tension between us."

She rolled her eyes and pushed passed him as she went to the bathroom. She shut the door and started stripping down. When she got in and turned on the water she sighed in enjoyment as the hot water hit her skin. Using the hair products and scrubbing it out of her hair she ignored the sound as the door opened. She wasn't worried as she knew who it was. When she was done with her hair the curtain opened and Vlad came in.

"What if I said no?" She asked

"I knew it would be a lie." He smiled and started teasing her as if he was going to kiss her. "You want me just as much as I want you."

He leaned down and kissed her gently and slowly at first. After a while his kisses started moving faster and became more instances. He started moving her to the tile wall as he started running his hands down her body and her ass. He squeezed her ass and with great ease, he lifted her off the ground and wrapped her legs around his waist. Pushing her up against the wall as he slid his cock inside her. Alice closed her eyes as he started thrusting in and out of her slowly. She moaned for him to move faster and he quickly replied. He gripped her thighs tightly as he started moving faster and faster. Both of them were moaning each other's name as they were getting lost in one another. Vlad groaned louder as he started pushing inside her deeper and rolled his hips. He continued on doing this a few times till she finally cum over him but they weren't done.

Vlad took himself out of her and turned her around and pushed her against the wall again as thrusted into her ass; the wall cracked a little. She gasped in delight when he shoved himself deep inside her and wrapped a hand around her throat; squeezing it gently. Then he used his other hand to thrust his finger inside her clit. She was getting close again.

"Did you miss me, baby? Missed how I fucked you so hard, making you cum every time." Vlad said against her ear as he thrusted harder in her. "I bet you haven't been able to cum like this in the last three years. I'm the only man that can make you feel this way. The only man that can fuck you this hard and this good. Do you know why?" He grabbed her face and kissed her roughly. "Because I still own this pussy."

He let go of her face and used one of his hands to grab her breast as he thrusted in her faster and harder. He did this over and over again, making her moan his name.

"Vlad!" She yelled."Fuck! Vlad!"

"That's right, love." Vlad smirked, thrusting harder and faster. "Say my name, baby. Say it. Say that you miss me."

"Vlad. Fuck, I miss this, Vlad." She said "I'm cumming Vlad. Fuck. I'm cumming."

"Not just yet, love." He smirked as he stopped moving.

This made her whimper a little.

"Tell me who still owns this pussy." He said

"You do." She said as she was trying to push back on him. "You do, Vlad. You've always owned this pussy."

"That's fucking right." He smiled as he started thrusting in and out of her again hard. "I will always own this pussy because you are mine." He grabbed her hands and pinned her in place. "You are my mate and no one else will have you. Say that you're mine."

"I'm yours. And you are mine, you fcuking bastard." She moaned

Vlad laughed again and continued on thrusting harder and harder.

"Vlad. Fuck. Vlad." She said "I'm cumming. I'm cumming."

"Fuck." Vlad said as he tightened his grip on her hands. "Fuck, I'm about ot cum too."

With a few more thrust she came and a few minutes later he did too. He rolled his hips slowly; making him ride out his release. They both sigh in relief as the tension between them is gone.

"Feel better, love?" He asked

"Yes...but now...I need to clean myself again." She sighed

"Then let's clean up shall we." He smirked

She looked over at him and saw the pervert gleam in his eyes and rolled her eyes.

"How is that your still hard when we just finished?" She asked

"It's kind of hard not to be when you like this in front of me." He smiled and kissed her.

.

.

.

After their shower session they got out and got dressed. Vlad had gone to get the cots for them to sleep on while Alice went to check on Max. She found the rec room and saw the kids playing a board game. Amy and Carol were sitting down and reading books while watching the kids. Amy looked at Alice with a teasing smile.

"Did you enjoy your shower?" She giggled

Alice gave her a confused look.

"You know, with Vlad." Amy giggled

Alice turned a little red as she understood what she was talking about.

"Oh god." She groaned

Both Amy and Carol laughed.

"How?" Alice asked

"You guys were pretty loud." Carol teased "Luckily the kids didn't hear you."

'Oh god, I hope Daryl didn't hear any of that.' Alice said

She looked over at Maxine and saw her trying to hide her yawning. Alice smiled as she knew that it was her bedtime.

"Alright I'll see you guys in the morning, it's time for this little one to go to sleep." Alice said and picked up Max. "Goodnight everyone."

"Goodnight." They said

The two left with Demon following them to their room. Vlad was there already with cots that he found. She noticed that he gave himself a haircut as he now had a buzz cut and he shaved the scuff off his face.

"You look nice." She said

She placed the now sleeping Max in her own cot. Then she placed the child's two stuffed toys under her arm before placing the blankets over her.

"Yeah, I thought that I needed to clean up some more." Vlad said "I see that you approve."

"Men with beards aren't my type so yes, yes I approve." Alice said

He smiled as he patted on the cot for her to lay with him. She rolled her eyes but lay down as she was tired. Demon made his way to Maxine's cot and lay down by her feet. Alice sighed relief as it was the first time in months that they could sleep in peace without worrying about the dead. Vlad noticed this and placed his arm around her in agreement.

"It'll be okay love. I promise." He said

"Vlad, just promise me that you won't leave again." She whispered

"I promise. I'll never leave either of you again." He said as he kissed her shoulder. "Sleep my love."

"What about the Doctor with our blood? And whatever that creature is here?" She asked

"Don't worry, I told you that I'll take care of it. Go to sleep, love." He said

Unable to fight the need to sleep any longer Alice closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep. Vlad watched her for a while to make sure that she was deep asleep. Once he heard her steady heartbeat he got up and went to find the Doctor. He found him in his lab but he had to wait as Rick came in drunk. Vlad rolled his eyes as he had to listen to Rick tearing up about how hard it was to keep up false hope. That he didn't ask to be the leader here. He believed that it would be better that they had all died so that they didn't have to live in this new horror world. All this was just annoying to Vlad but didn't know if he could trust Rick's decisions anymore.

When Rick was about to leave Vlad saw Jenner grabbing a hammer from under his desk. Jenner would have killed him if Vlad hadn't stopped him. He took the hammer out of the doc's hand first before placing him in a sleeper hold. Thanks to Rick's drunken state the man never turned to notice anything.

"Now you and I are gonna play a little called Q&A, Doc." Vlad said to the knockout Jenner.


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own…**

When Jenner woke up he found himself tied up to a chair and his mouth was taped up. He looked around and saw that he was in his office and saw Vlad looking around. His eyes widened in fear when Vlad opened the freezer fridge. With his heightened sense of smell the vampire could smell human parts and blood inside.

"What is it that you're hiding, Doc?" Vlad said before closing the freezer door. "I know you are. Especially since you just tried to kill Rick for no reason."

He sat down on the desk and looked down at Jenner.

"What kind of monster are you hiding?" He asked "It's not the deed, they smell different. Not one like mind that for sure, I would have known. This scent is unusual and if you are trying to keep it a secret that means this person means something to you."

Jenner tried not to but he glanced over at a picture frame on his desk. Vlad looked too saw the picture of a blonde hair woman hugging a young woman with the same blonde hair and looked to be in her late teens.

"It's one of them isn't it." He stated and took the tape off.

"Please, you don't understand." Jenner said

"Then you better tell me everything before I kill it right now." Vlad said with a dark tone.

.

.

.

The next morning Alice woke up first and tensed as she wasn't familiar with the place. It took her awhile to remember what happened yesterday and she relaxed. She looked over to the side where Maxine was and sighed in relief as she was still sleeping with Demon next to her. She was going to lay back down till she noticed that Vlad wasn't next to her. Then Maxine started to wake up and told her that she was hungry. Alice's stomach started growling too as she was getting hungry. So after getting dressed the two headed to the kitchen where everyone was at. T-Dog was making breakfast for everyone and Alice made a plate for her and little Maxine. When they reached the table they saw Daryl just walking in and headed straight for the rest of the wine. Alice got up and took it away from him.

"Eat something first before you start drinking again." She scowled at him.

"Damn it, woman. I'm a grown man." Daryl said

He tried to take back the wine, but Alice wasn't gonna let him.

"Don't make me pour this down the drain because you know I will." She threatened

Knowing that she would, he rolled his eyes and went to get something to eat. Then a few minutes later Glenn came walking in the kitchen groaning in pain from the hangover he obviously had.

"What did you learn, honey?" Jacqui snickered

"Not so looud." He groaned

The kids laughed at his actions.

A little while later, Rick entered the room as well.

"Are you hungover?" Carl asked "Mom said you'd be."

"And your mom's right." Rick smirked

"Mom has that annoying habit." She teased

"What's a hangover?" Maxine asked innocently to her mother.

"Well...you see how Glenn looks." Alice said

Maxine nodded.

"That's a hangover." She said "It what happens when you drink too much adult juice."

"Ooh." The little girl said

"Here's some more eggs." T-Dog said as he came to the table with a skillet of the eggs. "There powered, but I do'em good. Bet you can't even tell." Then walked over toward Glenn to tease him. "And the protein will help the hangovers."

Rick looked at the food and the bottle of aspirin that was on the table.

"Where'd all this come from?"

"Vlad found them" Lori replied "He thought we could use them."

T-Dog poured some eggs on Glenn's plate and the smell of them just made him nauseous.

"Don't ever let me drink again." Glenn said

Then Shane came into the room and Alice noticed the scratch marks on his neck. Alice looked over at Lori and saw how she was trying hard not to look at the man.

"Feel as bad as I do?" Rick asked

"Worse." Shane said as he filled his plate.

"The hell happened to you?" T-Dog asked

The man sat down at the table and shrugged it off. "Must have done it in my sleep."

"Never seen you do that before." Rick stated

"Yah, it's not like me at all." Shane said as he glanced at Lori for a few seconds.

Alice looked at Lori again which the married woman noticed and saw the 'I told you so look'. She did warn the woman that something like this will happen. Lori just looked back at her food feeling ashamed that she didn't believe her and was irritated that the woman was right.

"Hey, has anyone seen the Doc anywhere." Dale spoke

"No. Not since last night." Rick said

"And Vlad hasn't showed up yet. Isn't that a bit weird." Andrea said

"What is weird?" Vlad said

Vlad walked inside the room casually with Demon walking right behind him.

"We were just wondering where the Doc is." Dale said

"We didn't come here for the eggs after all." She said sternly

Everyone paused in their meal. Alice looked over at Amy and saw that the younger sister was irritated at her big sister.

"Well I haven't seen him." Vlad shrugged as he made himself a plate.

When he was done he sat down next to Alice. Everyone looked at him for a while till they continued on eating. Alice looked over at him as she knew that he was lying. Sensing her stare Vlad glanced at her and silently told her that he'll explain later.

When breakfast was over Vlad took Max, Alice and Demon back to their room. Alice made Max go take a shower so that she and Vlad could talk about what's happening.

"So where is the Doc?" Alice asked "Is he alive?"

Vlad gave her a dry look at the last question.

"Ha. Ha, love. I have him tied up in his main office. After I stopped him from trying to kill Rick I had a little talk with him." Vlad said as he started packing their stuff.

"He what?" She said

"Yup, found out two things about why he let us in. The first one, this place only has a few hours left before it explodes itself to make sure the virus' that they have here never gets exposed. He didn't want to die alone." He said

"So even though the guy is in depressed sucide mode he doesn't know how this whole zombie virus thing happen." She said

"The only thing he knows is that it's not just the states. The whole world has it. And none of the other CDC's knew before they exploded too." He sighed

"Then what's the second reason he brought us here? You said he tried to kill Rick. What for?" She asked

Vlad stopped packing before sitting down on the cot.

"Well...he isn't exactly alone here?" He asked, scratching his head. "His daughter has been here before the outbreak."

She raised a brow at this.

"'His daughter, Sarah, was attacked by some kind of animal or something. She lost a lot of blood but whatever it was it changed her. They didn't know what it was." Vlad explained "They first thought it was this virus but the blood was different. Her body started to transform into this decaying creature. Not to mention her need for dead and raw meat."

"Well there are a lot of creatures that could make that list. But...from what little description you gave me...I say maybe a ghoul." Alice said

It was his turn to give her a look and raised a brow.

"I thought ghouls were born?" He asked

"In a way yes, but I've read some lores that they can be created...by our kind." She said "Well...depending on which blood race it is from. The venom in us can go towards us or ghoulsville."

"Lovely." He muttered

"So, let me guess some of us were so supposed to be her next meal?"

Vlad nodded again.

"So where's the girl?" She asked

.

.

.

Down one of the many hallways Jacqui was walking while reading a book. When she turned down one of the corners she was startled when she saw Jenner standing there.

"Oh Jenner, you scared me." She said

She noticed that his face was a little bruised but didn't notice the rope burns on his wrist or the hammer in his hand.

"Are you alright? What happened to you?" She asked

"Nothing, I'm fine. I just...I just need to find some food for my daughter. Sh...She's very hungry." Jenner said

"Yo-Your daughter?" She asked

With one swing he hit her in the face. Then he hit her again and again and again till her brains splatter out. He didn't need her to turn on him but he's sure that she wouldn't mind. After getting a hold of her the Doctor dragged her body to his daughter's room. Once he got to the door he unlocked the keypad and opened the door. Jenner threw her body inside, a little over the yellow tape.

"Here you go sweetie." Jenner said

Crawling towards the body a pale gray-white humanoid creature started sniffing the body. It had long arms and legs, with sharp claws, whites eyes, very little hair and very sharp teeth. It's neck, wrist and legs were changed to the wall but it wasn't long enough to pass the yellow tape. The creature let out a unhuman roar before grabbing Jacqui's lifeless arm and started eating her.

Everyone heard the roar, that scared everyone. Rick, Shane, T-Dog, Glenn, Daryl, and Andrea grabbed their weapons and quickly hurried towards the roar. Vlad and Alice looked at each other knowing what was going to happen. So he went with them before telling her to grab their stuff and get the others that hadn't to pack as well while he after them.

"Vlad, take Demon and this. If it is a ghoul, you have to blast their heads off." Alice said as she tossed him a shotgun.

Vlad kissed her before whistling for Demon to follow him. He met up with the others and Jenner back was pressed against the wall by the door. Vald mentally growled, wondering how the doctor got out of the ropes. The doctor had a bottle of whisky in one hand and the same gun from last night.

"What the hell is going on?" Daryl said

Jenner quickly lifted up his gun and pointed at them.

"I'm sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen." Jenner said "You shouldn't have come here."

"Hey, the hell's that supposed mean?" Daryl glared as he went after the doc.

Suddenly the lights turned off and the air conditioning turned off.

"Jenner, what's going on?" Rick asked

"The system is shutting off all nonessential uses of power." Jenner explained "It's designed to keep the computers going for as long as possible. It's supposed to happen at the half hour mark." Then he looked at his watch. "Right on time."

Then he took a large gulp of the whisky before throwing it against the wall.

"The French." Jenner said to Andrea. "They were the last ones to hold out, as far as I know. While our people were bolting the labs or committing suicide...They were the ones that stuck with it to the end...They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?" Andrea asked

"The same thing that's happening here." Jenner stated "No power grid..It ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

"What happened to Jacqui, Jenner." Vlad asked

"I couldn't just let my baby girl starve on her last day. What kind of father would I be?" Jenner said

"She stopped being your daughter a long time ago, Jenner and you know it." Vlad said

Shane was about to punch the guy but Rick stopped him when another roar was heard. There was another sound like it was trying to break the chains. Vlad and Daryl slowly walked up to see the inside of the room and saw the creature eating down their member.

"Shit. That thing is huge." Daryl muttered

"Rick we need to get out of here while we still have a chance." Vlad said

Rick looked like he didn't want to leave and tried to reason with Jenner but the Doctor just aimed his gun at them.

"Just leave us be. Please." He said

"This is his choice Rick, not yours. Let's go now." Vlad said as he started to leave.

He didn't need to use the shotgun. If the building was going to blow up the building would collapse and will kill the creature itself. In a way Vlad believed that the doctor knew that.

"I'm with him. I'm getting my sister and niece out of here." Daryl said, while following Vlad.

"Come on Rick, we need to go." Shane said, following after them.

T-Dog, Glenn and Andrea followed along with him. Rick was the last one to follow but the doctor stopped him. The man whispered something in his ear that made Rick's eyes widen in disbelief. Jenner pushed him away before he stood by the door as he looked at his daughter. Shane had to hurry back to drag Rick back and everyone hurried to the others. Just like how Vlad told Alice she managed to get everyone to back up their stuff and waited on the others.

Everyone headed upstairs and did everything to break the windows down. No matter what they did, none of them couldn't make a dent. Not even when Shane shot his shotgun at the window.

"The glass won't break." Sophia said in fear.

Vlad was just about to use his vampire strength on the window until Carol said something.

"Rick, I have something that might help." She said, digging through her bag.

"I don't think your nail file is going to cut it." Shane rudely said.

Carol ignored him and handed Rick something.

"On your first morning at the camp, when I wash your uniform this was in your pocket." She said

It was a grenade.

After everyone saw the grenade, everyone made a move to run for cover. Vlad set the grenade next to the window and pulled its pin before running for cover too. The blast from the grenade was enough to take down the window. When it was clear Vlad pulled up Maxine in his arms and grabbed Alice's hand before rushing them out of there. After everyone got over the shock everyone else followed as well. Vlad, Rick, Shane and Daryl took down a few Walkers that were nearby before they got to their vehicles.

Inside CDC Jenner had pressed his back against the wall and slid down as he looked at his daughter. Even in her humanoid form that was trying to reach for him, he could still see her true face. He took out the picture of his wife and daughter before looking at his watch.

"We'll be with mommy soon, sweetie." He said before closing his eyes.

It wasn't long till the CDC exploded and everyone duck down and shield themselves. Vlad quickly covered Alice and Maxine from the blast. When the tremors from the blast were over Vlad slowly lifted himself up to look at the damage. The whole building was gone and didn't see any sign of the other creature.

"Where do we go now?" Alice asked

"Anywhere but here." Vlad said

He tried up the truck and headed away from the building. The others followed his lead as they knew that the area will be covered with Walkers soon.

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It was a long night for all of them.

The next day wasn't easy for them either, though. That's when everyone was judging Rick's next decision on following Shane's plan on going to Fort Benning. This almost split up the group as half the group wanted Vlad to lead. The vampire king didn't mind this but he was willingly to give Rick one more chance. After all, the man was drunk last night, so he wasn't going to hold it against him for long. It took a lot of effort but the others decided to give the sheriff one more try.

They started gathering all their supplies and restoring gas from other cars. Shane and T-Dog left behind their cars so it wouldn't be a problem. Rick's and Carol's family drove her car, while Andre, Amy, T-dog, Dale, Shane and Glenn drove in Dale's R.V. Daryl had decided to ride Merle's motorcycle from now on while Vlad, Alice and Maxine continued driving his truck. Once everyone was settled up they started heading up the road. Daryl had ridden the motorcycle up front of the group, somewhat leading the way.

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A few hours had passed since they left Atlanta. They followed the map that Glenn had and only stopped for food and pee breaks. It wasn't long till they hitted a long freeway that was jammed with a lot of abandoned cars. Up front, Daryl turned his motorcycle around and pulled up to the driver side of the R.V.

"Do you see a way through?" Dale asked

Daryl made a gesture for the old man to follow him as he turned his bike around again.

"Maybe we should go back?" Glenn suggested as he held up the map. "There's an interstate that we could take."

"We can't spare the fuel." Dale shook his head.

In the truck Alice looked over at Vlad with a worried look. He took her hand into his to reassure her that everything will be fine.

"Why did we stop daddy?" Maxine asked

"There's a few cars blocking the way, princess." He said "We have to be very careful now."

Daryl carefully maneuvered through the areas that the R.V and cars could get through. Everything was going fine until the R.V's engine started to overheat and smoke started steaming out of the grill. Dale cursed at this and stopped the R.V. This made everyone else stop their vehicles and went to check the R.V.

"I said it." Dale said with annoyance as he opened the top up. "Didn't I say. A thousand times. 'Dead in the water."

"What's the problem Dale?" Shane asked

Dale looked at the Deputy with annoyance, "Just the small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of…"

Alice cleared her throat and pointed at all the cars that were surrounding them.

"Okay, you're right, that was dumb." He said

"You know my brother Dean had taught me a lot about fixing cars, I can help you out." Alice said as she looked at the engine.

Dale nodded with gratitude

"If you two can't find a radiator hose here?" Shane smirked

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl said as he began scavenging.

"Siphon gas for starters." T-Dog nodded in agreement.

"Maybe some water." Carol suggested

Everyone seemed to agree with this except for Lori.

"This is a graveyard." Lori said "I don't know how I feel about this."

Alice wanted to roll her eyes at this.

"Come on y'all." Shane said "Let's gather what we can."


	7. Chapter 7

**I do not own…**

While Alice was helping Dale with the RV almost everyone else was looking around and scavenging for things. Demon stayed near his master as he kept watch and had his ears open. With Vlad, knowing that his mate is safe, he walked around with Maxine. He placed her on his shoulders, which made her giggled, as they started searching. Vlad made sure that she didn't see any of the dead bodies that were in the cars. Looking around he saw Daryl and T-Dog were gathering gas while Lori, Carol and Amy had found some clothes.

Shane, Alice and Glenn had gone looking for parts for the RV from the trucks until Shane noticed a truck with spring water printed on it. He opened it up and he couldn't believe his eyes at rows of water jugs that were still inside.

"Glenn? Alice? Were we short on water?" He asked

He quickly opened one up and let the water pour on him. Alice just shook her head and continued on working while Glenn laughed in glee.

"Hey save me some!" Glenn said

"It's like being baptized, man." Shane smiled

When the wind blew Alice and Vlad stopped at what they were doing. The scent of the living dead was near and it was stronger, which meant that there was more than one.

They weren't the only one that smelled them too. Demon stood up as he stared at the direction the smell came from and started a lowly growl. This caught Dale and Rick's attention and went to check it out. With the scope on the rifle he saw a lone walker in a far distant heading towards them. He was about to shoot till he saw another walker following the walker and then another and then another. It was Dale, who was standing on the RV, that saw the horde of Walkers with his binoculars. Rick quickly hurried towards the others to warn them and had them hide under the cars. Alice and Demon quickly ran off to find Vlad, Maxine and Darly to warn them. Sadly they had to hide when the Walkers got closer. Smelling them before anyone can tell them Vlad quickly took Maxine off his shoulder and started looking for a place for her to hide.

"Daddy, what's happening?" Maxine asked

"We need to stay down here till I say so." He said

He placed her under a car and slid down with her. After a few minutes they heard the familiar groans, snarls and Walkers feet skitting on the road. While they got closer to their car Vlad pressed Maxine close to him so he could block her scent from them. It felt like hours till they finally passed by. When they were all gone Alice and Demon quickly got out of their spot and hurried to find her family. She was able to find her brother first and then saw Vlad crawling out from under a car before pulling Maxine out.

"Oh my baby." She smiled as she grabbed a hold of her daughter and held her tightly. "Are you alright, are you okay?"

"I'm fine mommy." Maxine said

Alice looked at Vlad and mouth thank you for protecting their daughter. Everything looked like everything is fine now. That was until they heard a scream.

After grabbing an injured T-Dog, Daryl, Alice, and Vlad hurried to the others. They saw everyone gathering by the rail of the highway.

"What happened?" Alice asked

"There are two Walkers after my baby!" Carol cried

"Rick went after her." Lori explained as she tried to comfort Carol.

Seeing that not much can be done right now everyone just waited till someone came back. After a few minutes Rick was the only one that came back. When he looked around he had a confused look on his face. He told them that he did find her and told her to head back to the freeway as he distracted the walkers but since she hasn't come back meant that she got lost. So Rick took Daryl, Shane, Glenn and Vlad to look for her.

"Sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked as he looked at the spot Rick hid her in.

"I left her right here." Rick stated "I drew the walkers way off in the direction up the creek."

"Without a paddle...seems where we've landed." Daryl said

"She was gone by the time I got back here." Rick said "I figure she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder."

Vlad and Daryl looked around the bedded creek to look for any signs of the little girls tracks. Daryl was the first one to spot them.

"Hey, Short Round, why don't you step off to one side?" He said "You're mucking up the trail."

"Assuming she knows her left from her right." Shane said with a little mocking tone.

"Shane, she understood me fine." Rick glared

"Kid's tired and scared, man." Shane said to Rick. "She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck."

Daryl looked down at the ground and noticed the pre-teens footprints'.

"Got clear prints right here." He said as he got out of the river. "She did like you said, headed back to the highway. Let's spread out, make our way back. She couldn't have gone far."

They all got out of the river and continued on following the tracks. Daryl and Vlad took lead as they were better at tracking while unknown to everyone Vlad was scanning the woods with his heightened eyes. So far nothing for miles.

"She was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way." Daryl said

"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked

"Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off." Shane suggested

"Walker?" Glenn asked

"I don't see any other footprints." Daryl said "Just her."

"So what do we do?" Shane asked "All of us press on?"

"No, better if you, Glenn get back up to the highway." Rick said "People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on their trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm."

"I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars." Shane suggested "Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied. Come on."

Glenn nodded and the two headed back to the highway, while the others continued following the tracks. Hours had passed and there was still no sign of where they were.

Then a lone walker appeared.

When they took it down they noticed fresh blood on the walker. So to make sure it wasn't Sophia they opened it up. Thankfully it wasn't Sophias', the walker just ate a woodchuck. So they just continue on with tracking. It wasn't long till Rick noticed that the sun was setting and believed it was time to head back. When they made it back to the freeway the sun was nearly down.

"You didn't find her?" Carol said with sadness.

"Her trail went cold." Rick explained "We'll pick it up again at first light."

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods." She whimpered

"We'd just tripping over ourselves." Daryl said "More people get lost."

"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own." Carol said "You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard." Rick explained "But I'm asking you not to panic."

"We tracked her for a while." Vlad said

"We have to make this an organized effort." Rick said "Daryl and Vlad know the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

Alice looked at her brother and noticed blood was on his pants.

"Is that blood?" She asked

He looked down and shrugged it off.

"We took down a walker." Vlad told her.

"Walker? Oh, my God." Carol gasped

"There was no sign that it was ever anywhere near Sophia." Rick said

"How do you know that?" Andrea asked

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." Daryl said

Carol was at her wits ends and sat down on the rail. She took a few deep breaths before looking at Rick with an angry look.

"How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" She asked "How could you just leave her?"

Rick tried to explain himself but she wasn't having it and just wanted to blame him.

Alice felt sorry for the guy.

The man had done his best to find Sophia and saved her from two walkers. She could understand as a mother that she would be worried too if Maxine was lost but she wouldn't be standing here and depended on others' to find her. The female vampire would be out there right now looking for her daughter no matter what. So an idea came into mind. There was only one person that could easily find Sophia in the dark better than her and Vlad.

Demon.

Alice wasn't doing this for Carol because right now the woman was getting on her nerves. She was doing this for Sophia. The girl was sweet, kind and one of the few people that she and Maxine liked.

"Demon, come here boy." Alice commanded

The hellhound did as she commanded.

"Does anyone have something of Sophia's?" She asked

Everyone looked at her weird when she asked.

"He needs something of Sophia's scent." She said "We need someone to search for her now and Demon can track down anything miles away."

Understand what she was saying Amy was the first one to grab something from Carol's car. She got Sophia's bag from the back and took out one of her shirts before handing it to Alice.

"Demon, sniff." Alice said

Demon sniffed the shirt a few times before he could remember the scent.

"Now Demon I want you to track down Sophia and bring her back to us. Protect her when you find her." She commanded "Go."

With that said Demon sped off into the woods.

"There are no other dogs in the world that could track down a scent better than Demon. If anyone can find Sophia, it would be him." She said "If she's far, he'll leave us a trail."

Even with that in mind no one slept well that night.

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With great speed Demon followed Sophia's scent for a few miles away from the group. He clawed a few trees and rubbed his scent so his master could follow, just in case. It wasn't until the moon was high that he found Sophia and just in time too. A walker was about to take a bite on her shoulder till Demon tackled it down. He was able to get him away from Sophia before gnawing at it's head and crushing it with his jaw. After making sure that it was dead, Demon walked calm and slowly towards the girl.

"Demon? Is that you?" She whimpered

When she saw that it was him she quickly ran and hugged him before crying. After a few minutes the wind picked up and Demon smelled some more dead heading their way. So he guided Sophia away from the dead and somewhere safe. It took awhile but he was able to find a farmhouse. He sniffed around and he didn't see or smell anything that could be a threat. The hellhound guided Sophia inside and looked for a place to sleep. Sophia was able to find a blanket to keep her warm and a cabinet door that was big enough for both of them. She was able to sleep knowing that Demon would protect her.

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The next morning after seeing that Demon hadn't come back yet they prepared for the search. Rick lay out a blade kit that Carl found yesterday for everyone to take. Everyone but Dale and T-Dog were going.

"Everybody takes a weapon." Rick said

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need." Andrea said "What about the guns?"

"We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, Shane, and I are carrying." Vlad said "We can't have people shooting rounds every time a tree makes a noise."

"It's not the trees that I'm worried about." She said

Alice rolled her eyes as she hooked her quiver over her shoulder and checked over her compact bow.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by." Alice said "That'll be game over for us then. You need to get over it. This is for the safety of the group. You don't see Amy complaining."

Then she tossed Amy a metal bow staff. Andrea looked at her sister with disbelief.

"She's been teaching me how to use it since the Qurrary." Amy shrugged "Been useful than a gun."

Andrea just glared at the two.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side." Daryl explained "Be on the lookout for Demons' marks on the trees. It's his way to mark his trail when he's ahead on the hunt."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick said

Alice and Vlad were preparing their's and Maxine's bag when Andrea marched up to Dale and asked for her gun back. So to save the old man, Vlad told Andrea that he took her gun as she really didn't know how to use it.

"What gave you the right to take my gun away?" She glared

"Until you learn how to properly use it. Like Alice said before this is for the safety of our group. You need to be patient and keep everything in check when you handle a gun." Vlad said with a stern tone. "Glare and hate me all you want but until I see results, you won't be getting it back."

"I'm not a child, Vlad." She glared

"You sure sound like one right now if you ask me." He said

She scoffed and walked away.

Vlad and Alice looked at each other and they both shook their heads.

"She has a very bad attitude, mommy." Maxine said

"Indeed, babygirl." Alice smirked

"Is she monsterating?" Maxine asked innocently

The comment made both of her parents laugh before following the others.

The group stayed in a line. Alice and her family were up front while Shane stayed in the back. After a mile they manage to find one of Demons' markings but they stopped when Daryl spotted something in the distance.

A yellow tent.

Alice readied her arrow on her bow as Vlad took out his blades as they slowly approached the tent.

"She could be in there." Shane whispered

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl said and looked at his sister.

The vampire couple silently sniffed the air and only smelled a very old dead corpse inside. It wasn't Sophia that's for sure.

Rick, Daryl, Shane and Vlad walked slowly towards the tent first. Daryl checked the tent and couldn't really who was inside but knew someone was in there. So Rick called over for Carol.

"Call out softly." Rick explained "If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

Carol nodded and did as she was told.

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?" She said and nothing. "Sophia, it's Mommy." Nothing again. "Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy."

Again there was nothing Daryl slowly opened the tent door and went inside. After a few minutes he came out and told the group that the person in there wasn't her.

"What's in there?" Amy asked

"Some guy." Daryl said before placing his crossbow back on his back. "He killed himself."

That's when church bells rang for a minute before it shut off. Everyone quickly followed the sound. It took awhile but they were able to find a church but there were no church bells on top. Rick wanted to search it either way. When they opened the doors they saw three walkers inside, seating on the benches. The noise of the doors opening got the walkers attention, so they stood up. Alice and Daryl were able to shoot two down with their arrows while Vlad easily took down the last one with his blade.

"Sophia!" Rick yelled out as he searched the room.

No one responded.

"Yo, JC, you taking requests?" Daryl asked sarcastically

"Shut up Daryl." Alice muttered before smacking his arm.

Shane huffed before looking at his friend.

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick." Shanes said

"Not to mention we are far from Demons' markings, they're not here." Alice said

Then bells were heard again inside the church. Daryl quickly ran out of the building and found the source of the bells. Glenn found the fuse box and switched it off.

"A timer. It's on a timer." Darly said

Half of the group looked disappointed.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol said before heading back inside.

While this was going on everyone decided to take a break. It was a hot day after all. Alice took out her handmade canteen filled blood and handed it to Maxine first. When she was done Alice took a few sips before handing it to Vlad.

"How are you able to keep it cool?" He asked in a whisper

"A witch taught me a spell for it." She smirked

He chuckled before taking a gulp and handed it back to her.

After a few minutes the group continued on but this time they were going to split up. Shane and Carl were going with Rick to search the creek while everyone else in Vlad's group were to go back and check the marking tree. About an hour of walking and following the another mark a gun shot was heard.


End file.
